Teddy Bear
by twinley
Summary: It's the day of Hermione's birthday, and she is awoken by a terrible.  Who comes to her rescue? Ron, of course! Bringing with him a little present of his own intended to cheer her up.


**A/N: Yay! Another story! Okay, in chapter three of **_**Proof**_** I mention the teddy bear that Hermione had gotten from Ron. Well, this is that story. You do not need to read **_**Proof**_** to understand this, but it is a good read if I do say so myself. But as for this story, it is set in the trio's third year. I also wrote this as a little present for Hermione's birthday! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter world, not even the teddy bear, J.K. Rowling does.**

It was September 18, 1993, and there was a terrible storm surrounding Hogwarts. Rain pelted the stain glass windows of the Gryffindor common room, and thunder shook the paintings on the wall. Lightning lit up the otherwise dark common room illuminating the usual mess scattered about the room.

Extra quills and spare parchment littered the floors and tables, and empty chocolate frog boxes were stuffed between couch cushions. Blankets were thrown across armchairs and an orange cat could be seen lying in front of the fireplace.

It was a typical mess and the house elves sent to clean it up accomplished their jobs quickly and quietly and without complaint.

The walls of the castle seemed to groan in despair, a groan that the students will also join in come morning. Lessons would not be canceled, but would continue with a dreary and mournful manner. The students will be daydreaming in class of the summer days and nights they had recently left behind. A uniform depression will hover about the school, and would only be lifted once the rain had passed.

But Hogwarts _was_ in the United Kingdom, and rainstorms were often. The students had grown used to the downpour on the roof above them, and would fall into a deep sleep because of Mother Nature's own special lullaby.

But not all students liked thunderstorms, and for some, it often brought bad memories and nightmares. Because of this, it was also a usual occurrence for some students to journey down their staircase and to snuggle into an armchair trying to forget about the storm.

For this reason, Gryffindor's own Hermione Granger was creeping down the staircase trying to be as silent as possible. For her, the storm brought back memories of being left at home alone while her parents were at fancy work parties.

She sunk into her favorite armchair by the fireplace pulling her favorite book, Hogwarts, A History into her arms. Lately, her dreams were being infiltrated with nightmares of Sirius Black coming and hurting her best friend, Harry.

And on bad nights, such as this one, nightmares revolved around the night she was petrified by the Basilisk. She would dream that she was lying on a bed in the Hospital Wing, unable to move, but able to hear those around her. They would laugh and say how happy they were that the know-it-all mudblood was petrified. Even her own friends would make fun of her bushy hair and oversized teeth. It was particularly painful would Ron would say that he, a pureblood, could never be friends with someone like her.

Every time that she would wake up from a nightmare following that pattern she would already have tears pouring down her cheek. She knew that what they said was rubbish, and that they would never talk about her like that. She would head downstairs and read a book or do her homework, anything to get those awful thoughts out of her mind.

Occasionally someone would also venture down. However, they were never there to talk to her. Some would just be sleepwalkers and run into things or throw some pillows before they were satisfied to head back upstairs into their dormitories. Others, such as Fred and George, would just be up for a midnight snack and sneak off into the kitchens. They all had a similar pattern, they would get what they needed, and would then go back to the comforts of their own bed.

No one remained in the common room to strike up a conversation with the well-known bookworm. Some people just thought it was natural for her to stay up that late working. After all, she had a larger workload than most O.W.L. students.

Until tonight. Tonight, one of Hermione's best friends, Ron Weasley, came down with the excuse of not being able to fall asleep. He would hope to crash on the couch, as he would often do at his own home.

He wandered down the steps, stifling a large yawn as he did so. Hermione, as usual, peered casually above her book. Her bangs were strategically placed in which she could see the person through, but the person could not see her eyes.

She nearly gasped when she saw who it was. One of her friends had finally ventured down, so maybe now she would not be so alone.

Ron stumbled over towards the couch in front of the fire hoping that the warmth radiating from it would put him to sleep quicker. However, when he approached the semi-circle of chairs and couch he jumped when he saw that one of them was already occupied.

Ron's hand clutched his chest, slightly rubbing it in order to soothe his thumping heart. He let out an air of breath when he realized that the person was actually one of his best friends, Hermione Granger.

"Merlin, Hermione," Ron exclaimed while collapsing on the couch, "what are you doing down here at this time of night? Doing homework?"

Hermione huffed at his assumption. She angrily closed her book and held it up to show him. "For your information, Ronald, I couldn't sleep. So I came down here to read instead."

Ron took a quick glance at the book's title, and let a slight chuckle, "Haven't you read that book, I don't know, like a hundred times already."

"Not quite," Hermione replied, pushing her bangs away from her eyes and behind her ears. Once she did this Ron was finally able to see get a good look at her face.

The firelight gave her face a warm glow, lighting up her features and forming a sort of halo out of her frizzy hair. Ron could also see Hermione's bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep and strained reading.

His mind abruptly changed course. He was more concerned for her well-being than her late-night reading preferences.

"Hermione, are you, you know… okay?" Hermione was surprised by his question. She was expecting an argument, and she had her rebuttal partially formed in her mind.

"What do you mean?"

Ron turned a slight pink before continuing, "I dunno, you just look like really tired and stuff."

Just then a clap of thunder erupted and a flash of lightning lit up the room soon after. Hermione jumped in surprise, causing the book to fall off her lap and tumbling towards the ground.

Ron hastened to pick it up for her, and she gave him a small smile of thanks in return. Instead of going back to the couch, Ron sat down in the armchair next to Hermione.

"Are you afraid of thunder? Is that why you are down here?" Ron held her gaze, and Hermione heart fluttered at the sight.

"It's not so much the thunder that scares me, but the memories that come with it." Hermione tried to explain. Ron, however, was not able to follow her logic.

"You mean you have been struck by lightning?" Hermione thought that he was taking the mickey out of her, but one look into his eyes showed how serious he actually was.

"No," Hermione giggled, "like nightmares. I tend to have nightmares when it is storming outside."

"Oh," Ron responded, not really sure if he wanted to know them or not.

He remembered when he was a little child that he always felt embarrassed telling his mother what his nightmares were. After Fred and George had transfigured his teddy bear into a spider, he continually had terrifying dreams regarding them.

Hermione cleared her throat, pulling Ron away from his thoughts.

Suddenly he stood up and snapped his fingers. He started off towards the staircase leading up to the boy's dormitories, but turned back to Hermione, "Don't move, I will be right back."

Hermione stood up at his hasty exit, but nodded and sat back down at his command.

Ron returned a few minutes later, hiding something behind his back. Hermione's head tilted to the side in curiosity.

From behind his back, Ron pulled an old and battered brown teddy bear. One of the bear's ears was slightly torn, and there was a small juice stain on his back. Encompassing the neck was an orange ribbon, a Chudly Cannon orange ribbon. Ron grinned a little sheepishly and his ears turned a faint pink as he handed it to Hermione.

She reached for and tenderly sat in her lap. She offered Ron a shy smile as she gently pat the bear's head.

"What's this for, Ron?" Hermione softly asked. Ron was eternally grateful that she wasn't making fun of him for even having a stuffed animal at Hogwarts. Even though his brothers had turned the bear into a spider, he still could not part from it.

"Well, you said that you were having trouble with nightmares, and… I dunno," Ron stumbled over his words and refused to look Hermione in her eyes, instead he was winning a staring contest with his hands, "When I was younger, this bear helped me through some tough times…" Ron trailed off hoping that Hermione would understand what he was trying to say.

"Do you mean I can keep him?" Hermione inquired with a wide smile on her face.

"Yeah, of course you can! He can even be an early birthday present." Ron glanced at the grandfather clock noticing that it was after midnight, "Or, consider it your first present of the day." Ron finally looked into Hermione's eyes since he handed her the bear.

Hermione was extremely touched that Ron would trust her with a special possession of his. Her puffy eyes began to glaze with tears as she stood up clutching the bear to her chest. She quickly wiped her eyes and the enclosed Ron in a tight hug.

Ron had no clue what he should do, so he awkwardly patted her on the back. Ron's eared were bright red when Hermione finally pulled away. Hermione's cheeks were also slightly red in color.

"Thank you, Ron. This means so much to me." Hermione pulled away and bent down to pick up her fallen book, but making sure she had a firm grip on the bear the entire time.

"No problem, hopefully you will get more use out of him now than I will." Ron nervously ran his hands through his already messy hair.

Another clap of thunder rang through the common room, and Hermione gave a little jump while pulling the bear under her chin.

Hermione took a quick glance at the grandfather clock, and finally noticed how late, or early, it actually was. Ron followed her gaze.

"Maybe we should head back up to bed," Ron suggested.

Hermione gave a small nod and a soft smile before turning around and heading towards the girls' dormitory. She placed one foot on the steps, but then turned around to face Ron again.

"Does he have a name?" Hermione questioned.

"Yeah, um…" Ron quickly became embarrassed and started to shuffle his feet on the carpet. Hermione became aware of his discomfort and a smile started to envelope her face. "You have to promise not to laugh," Ron pleaded finally looking in her eyes.

"Honestly, Ron, it can't be that bad!" Hermione let out a slight giggle, but hastily stopped at the serious look on his face. "Alright, I promise!" She let out another small giggle, but quickly composed herself.

Ron took a large dramatic sigh, and then announced, "His name is…Sir Brown Bear." His eyes quickly shut and he scrunched his face in pain.

"Sir…Brown Bear?" Hermione asked to see if she had heard right. All Ron could do in response was to nod his head and keep his eyes closed. "Well, I like it!"

For a moment Ron forgot that he was supposed to be embarrassed. His eyes sprung open in shock and gaped at her in disbelief. "You do?"

"I think it's adorable, actually." Hermione took a few steps closer to him, as if to reassure him that what she was saying was true. "An image of a little Ron pops into my head when he gets him, and then he names it the first thing that comes to mind."

"Well that is true, Brown Bear isn't very creative is it?" Ron agreed.

"But he isn't _just_ Brown Bear, he is _Sir_ Brown Bear. He must have been pretty special to gain that title."

"Oh he was! We used to go on all sorts of adventures when we were little! Like this one time…" Ron's tale ended when he realized that he was giving too much information away. He then cleared his throat and Hermione looked disappointed when she realized she wasn't going to be privy to this knowledge. "You don't, you know, have to keep that name if you don't want to. You can name him anything you want, he is yours now."

"I will do no such thing!" Cried Hermione indignantly, "That is his name and he is going to keep it!"

"Okay, okay," Ron stuck his hands out in front of him as if to protect himself, "It was just a suggestion!"

The clocked chimed, and the duo became aware that it was now one in the morning.

"Well, I best be off to bed," Hermione started, "Thanks again for the gift, it's already my favorite." She stepped forward to give Ron a quick hug. Once she broke from the embrace she walked again towards the staircase. She turned back around and gave him a shy smile before rushing up the steps.

Ron offered her receding form one of his lop-sided grins before he threw himself onto the couch.

What Ron did not see was that the moment that Hermione reached her room and placed her head on her pillow, she was fast asleep. The storm still raged from outside her window, but every time a thunder clapped she drew the bear closer. Hermione fell into a dreamless sleep already knowing that regardless of any other presents she received in the morning, the teddy bear would always be the best.

**A/N: So there you have it! I am not sure if I liked how this turned out, but I will let you readers be the judge of that- and the only way I will know how you think is if you REVIEW REVIEW!**

**Hearts,**

**Twinley**

**p.s. Please disregard any and all spelling/grammatical errors, this was not read by a beta; I am only human. And as always, I am not British, so excuse my American wording and spelling.**


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